Improved method of elevating water into railroad-tanks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEO CHARLES L. STEVENS, OIF GALESBURG, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVED METHOD 0F ELEVATING WATER INTO RAILROAD-TANKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,211, dated August 14, 1866.

able rail-platform and its appurtenances connecting therewith for elevating water into railway-tanks; Fig. 2, longitudinal section of platform, as indicated by the line :c y in Fig. giving a side elevation of tank and pumptubing in the rear, Fig. 3, views, in detail, of lock arrangement.

Like letters in the gures of the drawings indicate like parts.

The nature of my invention consists in operating a rail-platform on a series of compound levers, so arranged in their connetion with the platform and shafts below the same as to give an easy rocking motion to the platform when railway-trains pass over the same, which motion, through the levers, is imparted corre-v spondingly to the shafts having levers attached to their ends, which, connecting with vertical rods and fulcrum-levers on the tankstand, operate the piston-rod of one of three pumps, as may be desired, and thereby elevate and fill the station-tank with water by reason of the trains performing the operation, instead of manual labor or other power.

I am aware of similar attempts having been made to accomplish the same purpose; but they have failed to attain the desired result in a satisfactory manner upon trial. A practical demonstration of this, however, has proved it to be a complete success, possessing advantages superior to anything that has heretofore been attempted in this line.

My invention further consists in so constructing the platform as to have the transverse end and center rods constituting the framin g thereof project therefrom into slots or places cut out of the bed-sills, onwhich the track-rails rest, and immediately under the rails, Ahaving friction -rollers on their ends, whereby the said projecting ends of the rods,

operating in and against the sides of the said slots, relieve the jerking or straining that would otherwise be upon the junction-pivots of the compound levers or the levers themselves, and thus facilitatesthe rocking movement of the platform upon the levers; andin addition to this the platform is restored to its proper position above the rails after being depressed by the trains by the weights connecting with the shafts, causing it to ascend,

. which brings the projecting ends of the rods in contact with the under side of the rails, and thus arrests the further progress of the platform upward.

Another feature of my invention-is in the manner of' retaining the platform in a depressed position in the event of an expresstrain coming along, or otherwise, by a man in attendance pushing the main rocking shaft around by a 4fever and locking into a peculiar spring upright plate.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the rocking rail-platform, constructed of two doubly-inclined rails, and framed together at their ends and center by the transverse rods a, a a. The rods b b b are for bracing and keeping the rails steady and straight.

The platform as constructed is placed between the rails of the track at the point needed for the supplying of trains with water. A suitable excavation of the ground thereat is first made sufficiently to receive the platform and the machinery connected therewith for operating it. 'Ihe ends of the excavation are properly walled or planked up. The trackrails c c at this point are set on stout wooden bed-sills B B, which form the sides of the excavation and support the platform machinery.

In the construction of the rails of the platform a solid rib is forged onto wide side pieces, about two inches square, and one inch from the top edges of the same. A slight depression is made thereon by swaging the top snrfaces so as to receive the iiange-shape of the wheels, which leaves a guard, against which the anges of the car-wheels run, and thereby obviates all danger of the train ruiming OH" the track in the event of the platform not being depressed.

O C G are the compound levers. They consist of two levers joined together by pivots d d d. (See Fig. 2.) The upper levers are placed immediately close to the rails of the platform and the transverse end and center rods passed through them, and thence through the rails of the platform, from which they project into slots D D D cut out of the bed-sills on the inside. and immediately underthe track-rails, having friction-rollers e e eon their ends. The lower levers connect with the rocking shafts E E E by their passing through them and then made rigid and permanent thereto.

The upper levers are allowed a free-andeasy movement in their connection with the transverse rods.

The slots in the bed-sills are so constructed as to allow the friction -roller ends of the transverse rods operating therein to have a slight bearing around on the sides, so as to obvia-te any tendencyT tojerking or straining of the levers on the pivots, and thus give an easy and steady movement to the platform.

The transverse rods are placed in a straight line, whereby, on the ascension ofthe platform caused by the weights subsequent to its depression by the trains, the ends of the rods, coming in contact with the under side of the rails, are thereby7 prevented going any farther, allowing them to go sufficiently above the trackrails to receive the force and weight of the car-wheels. In this Way the platform is adjusted to its original position, after being depressed, with a steadiness and uniformity that renders it practicable and unobjectionable in comparison with those methods heretofore in use for adjusting it in this respect.

F F are weights attached to levers f, and so arranged on the shafts as to counterbalance the weight of the platform, and thereby cause it to ascend on every depression made by the Weight of the car-wheels of the train.

The center shaft, as will be observed, eX-

ous water to the same, and thus prevent its running over the tank when filled.

It is intended that the platform shall operate three pumps through three rocking-shafts connecting therewith, one of which shaft and pump, as connected together and above referred to, is considered all that is necessary to show. The shafts, as mentioned heretofore, pass through the bed-sills and are supported at the terminus of their Aextension beyond the bed-sills by upright plates, in. which they are made to turn or move around, as well as in the bed-sills.

The center shaft, as will be seen, has a short arm, h, arranged thereon, which connects with the rod h', which, in turn, connects with the fulcrumlever 71, on the tank-stand, for operating the pistoirrod of the pump. The other two pumps are arranged in the saine manner in their connection with the shafts, and operate in the same way.

To throw the platform down and retain it in that position', a lever, I, is attached to the shaft (seen clearly in Fig. 3) alongside of an upright plate, l', which is so constructed as to have a spring-catch or other equivalent arrangement, so that when the lever is pressed down far enough against the side of the spring it is caught under the catch part of it and there held fast, and the platform is thus locked down out of the way in the event of an eX- press-train coming along. By pushing the lever one side the platform is brought up again.

The platform may be Vkept down by the locking arrangement, out of the way of such trains that do not stop and take water, by a man whose duty .it shall be to attend to the same.

The idea of the operation is this, as practically demonstrated. A train stopping at the tank to take water, a switch or station man, or one of the brakemen of the train, unlocks the platform, and it is ready to work as soon as the train moves off. It shall Abe the duty 'of the engineer of the train not to move his train more than two miles per hour until he has passed the length ofthe train. he cannot make much more than that time any way. This speed will give eleven strokes per minute to each pump, which will throw two barrels of water to each car into the tank from a well thirty feet deep, or raise water from a well thirty feet deep into the tank. When the last set of trucks in the train comes onto the platform, the brakeman or the man tending lthe lock fastensthe platform down out of the way of the next train, if it be an expresstrain, and the man, if he be a brakeinan, steps onto his train and goes on; and the train that has taken the water has, perhaps, pumped twice as much water into the tank as it took into its tender.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desireA to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The rail-platform A, operating on a series of compound levers, C C C, and so connected with the rods a am of the platform and the shaft E E E as to impart, by means of the passage of a train of cars, sufcient motion thereto to operate one, two, or three pumps, as may be desired, substantially in the inanner and for the purpose as herein set forth.

2. The rods a a aof the platform, constructed with friction-rollers eee on their ends, and'op- Verating in slotsD in the bed-sills B under and against the rails, so as to give the proper direction and position to the platform in its elevation and depression, substantially in the man; ner and for the purpose as herein set forth.

3. Depressing the rail-platform and retaining it in that position by means of the lever l1J In fact,

0n the shaft being looked into the upright as arranged to elevate the rail-platform on springplate i by the brakeman or man in at every succeeding depression of it by the cars tendance, substantially in the manner and for of the train when passing thereover, substanthe purpose as specified. tially in the manner and for the purpose as 4. The fulcrunrlever h, vertical rod, and lespeoied. F ver connecting` therewith, in combination with CHAS. L. STEVENS.

the shaft E, substantially in the manner and Witnesses: for the purpose as herein specified. BENJAMIN LOMBARD, Jr.,

5. The Weights F F and levers f f on shafts, I. B. BOGGS. 

